The-Morality-of-Capitalism-PDF

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Egalitarianism: “Fair” DistributionIf we turn to egalitarianism, we find that we arrive at the sameprinciple by a different logical route. The ethical framework ofthe egalitarian is defined by the concept of justice rather thanrights. If we look at society as a whole, we see that income, wealth,and power are distributed in a certain way among individualsand groups. The basic question is: is the existing distributionfair? If not, then it must be corrected by government programsof redistribution. A pure market economy, of course, does notproduce equality among individuals. But few egalitarians haveclaimed that strict equality of outcome is required by justice. Themost common position is that there is a presumption in favor ofequal outcomes, and that any departure from equality must bejustified by its benefits to society as a whole. Thus, the Englishwriter R. H. Tawney wrote that “inequality of circumstance isregarded as reasonable, in so far as it is a necessary condition ofsecuring the services which the community requires.” John Rawls’sfamous “Difference Principle”—that inequalities are permittedas long as they serve the interests of the least advantaged personsin society—is only the most recent example of this approach.In other words, egalitarians recognize that strict leveling wouldhave a disastrous effect on production. They admit that noteveryone contributes equally to the wealth of a society. To someextent, therefore, people must be rewarded in accordance withtheir productive ability, as an incentive to put forth their bestefforts. But any such differences must be limited to those whichare necessary for the public good.What is the philosophical basis of this principle? Egalitariansoften argue that it follows logically from the basic principle ofjustice: that people are to be treated differently only if they differin some morally relevant way. If we are going to apply thisfundamental principle to the distribution of income, however,we must first assume that society literally engages in an act ofdistributing income. This assumption is plainly false. In a marketeconomy, incomes are determined by the choices of millions ofindividuals—consumers, investors, entrepreneurs, and workers.These choices are coordinated by the laws of supply and demand,75
and it is no accident that a successful entrepreneur, say, earnsmuch more than a day laborer. But this is not the result of anyconscious intention on the part of society. In 2007 the mosthighly paid entertainer in the United States was Oprah Winfrey,who earned some $260 million. This was not because “society”decided she was worth that much, but because millions of fansdecided that her show was worth watching. Even in a socialisteconomy, as we now know, economic outcomes are not under thecontrol of government planners. Even here there is a spontaneousorder, albeit a corrupt one, in which outcomes are determined bybureaucratic infighting, black markets, and so forth.Despite the absence of any literal act of distribution, egalitariansoften argue that society is responsible for ensuring that the statisticaldistribution of income meets certain standards of fairness.Why? Because the production of wealth is a cooperative, socialprocess. More wealth is created in a society characterized by tradeand the division of labor than in a society of self-sufficient producers.The division of labor means that many people contribute tothe final product; and trade means that an even wider circle ofpeople share responsibility for the wealth that is obtained by theproducers. Production is so transformed by these relationships,say the egalitarians, that the group as a whole must be consideredthe real unit of production and the real source of wealth. At leastit is the source of the difference in wealth that exists between acooperative and a non-cooperative society. Therefore societymust ensure that the fruits of cooperation are fairly distributedamong all participants.But this argument is valid only if we regard economic wealth asan anonymous social product in which it is impossible to isolateindividual contributions. Only in that case will it be necessaryto devise after-the-fact principles of distributive justice for allocatingshares of the product. But this assumption, once again,is plainly wrong. The so-called social product is actually a vastarray of individual goods and services available on the market. Itis certainly possible to know which good or service any individualhas helped to produce. And when the product is produced by agroup of individuals, as in a firm, it is possible to identify whodid what. After all, an employer does not hire workers by whim.76
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The Morality of CapitalismWhat Your
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ContentsIntroduction: The Morality
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Introduction: The Morality of Capit
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China, Morocco, the United States,
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in a friendly sense.” 9 The word
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Marx saw the “bourgeoisie” as i
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usinesses rising and falling more r
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and one an economist, and an interv
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Section IThe Virtues ofEntrepreneur
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is why I was mentioning the sophomo
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our society are motivated by purpos
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promote microfinance in poor countr
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ownership of wealth, was highly str
Page 29 and 30: in the world for a couple of hundre
Page 31 and 32: without a strong business sector th
Page 34 and 35: lightning rod and Watt’s steam en
Page 36 and 37: Competition and CooperationBy David
Page 38 and 39: advocates of “back to nature”
Page 40 and 41: that the associations within civil
Page 42 and 43: For-Profit Medicine and the Compass
Page 44: Profit and CompassionThat’s too s
Page 48 and 49: The Paradox of MoralityBy Mao Yushi
Page 50 and 51: after assessing the situation, sett
Page 52 and 53: efrigerators and color TVs, are onl
Page 54 and 55: epair trade are crowded out by the
Page 56 and 57: person, followed the principle of e
Page 58 and 59: if in return for A taking the bigge
Page 60 and 61: The Moral Logic of Equality and Ine
Page 62 and 63: equality in exchange is economicall
Page 64 and 65: eliminate or to establish inequalit
Page 66 and 67: earned by the poorest 10% of the po
Page 68 and 69: Adam Smith and the Myth of GreedBy
Page 70 and 71: them to lobby the state to create c
Page 72 and 73: strangers, but when we haggle for t
Page 74 and 75: Ayn Rand and Capitalism: The Moral
Page 76 and 77: the welfare state, which redistribu
Page 78 and 79: Welfarism: The Unchosen ObligationT
Page 82 and 83: A worker is hired because of the an
Page 84 and 85: To live by reason we must accept in
Page 86 and 87: Economic outcomes in the market—t
Page 88: is a social asset is incompatible w
Page 92 and 93: The Market Economy and the Distribu
Page 94 and 95: no unfavorable, economic results. O
Page 96 and 97: owner, actual or potential, reflect
Page 98 and 99: losses prompted by the chance of, o
Page 100 and 101: We are not saying, of course, that
Page 102 and 103: well-being reflects a potentially c
Page 104: discrepancies. The difference was c
Page 108 and 109: Global Capitalism and JusticeBy Jun
Page 110 and 111: preferences, and infrastructure. It
Page 112 and 113: Human Betterment through Globalizat
Page 114 and 115: any particular sophistication. Afte
Page 116 and 117: These young people are returning be
Page 118 and 119: etterment through exchange and the
Page 120 and 121: of diverse cultures. In this manner
Page 122 and 123: primitive magical-religious communi
Page 124 and 125: to censure, repression, and margina
Page 126 and 127: That is why the best defense of our
Page 128 and 129: A Little Further Reading for Fun an
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Dr. Tom G. Palmer is executive vice
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14 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels,
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Index of Proper Names(Chinese names
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The Pierre F. and Enid Goodrich Fou
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Students For LibertyA Free Academy,
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Additional Resources for LibertyThe
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“We need to change the narrative
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